A Sock on the Welcome Mat
by reminiscent-afterthought
Summary: [post-series] Shinya wishes he had friends like Takuya's.


**A/N:** Written for the Advent Calendar Challenge at the DFC (link in profile), day 19 – write about a confession of some sort. A little brotherly talk in a less opportune but will do place. :D

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><p><strong>A Sock on the Welcome Mat<strong>

Shinya thought all of Takuya's friends were cool…but they were _his_. And Shinya didn't have any friends like that himself. Not friends that would bail him out of trouble with no strings attached – and though his brother did bail him out of trouble, they usually did come with strings. If it wasn't Takuya or their parents, it was other kids at school saying he needed his big brother to fight his battles for him.

But no-one ever said that when he punched the fourth grader who pushed that second-grade girl into the mud. They only said that when the fourth grader got pissed and brought his friends and Takuya had come looking for his brother to find him in that little jam. Takuya had still been in fifth grade back then, but that was post "awesome friends springing out of the earth and awesome fighting skills as well". That poor bully hadn't stood a chance.

Except for the scorning bit. And he never heard anyone saying that to his big brother when that Kouji kid bailed him out of fights – which happened. Occasionally. Moreso with Kouji than any of the others, because Kouji was the closest and their schools were practically next door.

And if Shinya had friends like that, he could hang out with them as much as Takuya hung out with his friends, and then he wouldn't want to monopolise his brother because there were other people he wanted to spend time with just as much. But he didn't have friends like that. Not friends that would invite him over to do anything except play a little soccer in the park. Not friends he _wanted_ to see, that he got lonely without.

Or maybe he was lonely without those non-existent friends.

'Are you going to see your friends again?' he asked, catching his brother at the door. He did that a lot – or, rather – he watched his brother go. After all, there was no reason to begrudge his brother of good friends. Takuya was much nicer to him now thanks to them. But still…

Takuya paused in tying up his second shoe-lace. 'Of course,' he said, a little confused as to why his brother sounded…sad. 'I promised I'd take you to the park tomorrow, Shinya.'

'I know.' But Shinya was still a little downcast. 'But I didn't need to make appointments around your friends before.'

Takuya had to laugh at that, and he tangled the lace in doing so and had to curse. That made Shinya chuckle too. 'There's plenty of time in the day,' the elder Kanbara pointed out. 'We lazed about all morning and you wait until I'm going out?'

'Well…' Shinya scuffed a socked toe along the welcome mat. There had been plenty of time…but that wasn't really the point. The friends were the point.

'Or don't you like those guys?' Takuya asked, raising an eyebrow.

'It's not that,' Shinya said hurriedly. 'They're great. Really.' They'd come to his birthday – except for the one that had been in the hospital at the time, and even he'd sent a gift when he'd gotten out. And they always said hello and made small-talk with him when they came to visit, and the ones that lived closer even said hi and stopped to talk when they passed each other on the streets or at the shops… 'But they're _your_ friends.'

Takuya wore a befuddled expression on his face a moment before it cleared. 'You'll be lucky one day and find awesome friends like that too.' He ruffled his brother's hair, and it was a mark of how Shinya was feeling about the issue that he didn't complain like he usually did. 'Trust me.'

Shinya looked up. 'Ni-san…'

'Yeah?'

He'd always wondered… 'Where'd you find them anyway?' They'd just shown up one day, on his birthday, and Takuya had acted as though he'd known them for years. But even their mother had never heard of them before.

Shinya's face and tone were serious, but Takuya laughed laugh. 'Another world.'

Shinya scowled in disbelief. 'Really,' he deadpanned. 'Try pulling the other leg, Ni-san.' He was trying to be serious, and his brother was just teasing him. But…

'Really.' Though Takuya didn't expect his little brother to believe him. Not like that. And Shinya didn't – though he supposed that meant it was something he shouldn't know about yet. So he let it go. For then. Having the friends was more important than where here found them. 'There are other places to find good friends. Like the park.'

'Well…' Shinya straightened. 'You promised to take me tomorrow.' Maybe he would find an awesome friend there. Or the next time.

Takuya rolled his eyes and knelt down again, fixing the tangled shoe-lace. 'Keep on reminding me like that, and I'll forget.'


End file.
